And these people were saying that they never ever thought of Zutara before, until they saw people shipping on the internetz... Yet, here it is -- two elements of Zutara cave from "CoD".

And who says that was shipping? People can interact, even in a cave, without being romantic. Granted we probably wouldn't have had the baiting trailer.

Anyway...well, I like the early version's greater empahsis on war (Sokka's journey, a successful day of black sun, and the allied march on the Fire Capital. I would really have liked to have seen those battleships...though I do think Water Tribe subs are much cooler)....but other than that, I really prefer the way it is now. Particularly the portrayal as a lush land.

Hmm...if they decided on the spiritbending so early, i wonder why it wasn't brought up more in the series.

Iroh would have emerged as the most awesome villain in the whole series. Ozai is still underdeveloped. How cool would it have been if these treatment ended with Iroh killing Ozai and taking up the mantle of Fire Lord, and Aang having to fight Iroh in the end?

Now that kind of twist would've been impressive.

One thing I'm really happy they changed is Katara not being mad at Aang for running away. It would've made her even more annoying.

Iroh's little betrayal here does have an uncanny resemblance, even if he's isn't the chessmaster.

I have to wonder about this season-long invasion of the Fire Nation, though. If the Earth Kingdom is steadily moving across the Fire Nation until the Comet arrives, that means they're winning the war, right?

And what were they planning to do if they hadn't conquered the Fire Nation before the Comet? Push on and hope for the best?

I can't really criticize, though. I too plan out my own fiction by writing similar summaries and purposely leaving plot-holes in to be filled later after the big picture is mapped out. Notice how little detail went into Seasons 2 and 3 compared to 1; they were obviously expecting to flesh them out more based on elements created for season 1 episodes.

While Earth Kingdom troops move closer to the capital, Sokka and Toph track the captured Zuko and Katara to the Fire Lord's fortress, hoping to save Katara. Nearby, Sokka and Toph discover a fleet of fully operational zeppelins preparing to take off. In the Fire Lord's eccentric menagerie, Sokka finds Aang's bison, alive. Freeling Appa, Sokka flies him into battle and hijacks a zeppelin from the air. With the zeppelin's firepower, Sokka destroys the rest of the fleet, clearing the way for the Earth forces to storm the Fire Lord's fortress.

Inside the fortress, Katara and Zuko break away from their captors and search for Aang, hoping to help him. Zuko leads them through secret passages to his father's chamber, where they encounter Zuko's brother, Prince Azul. Azul's Firebending is superior to Zuko's, but with Katara's help, they defeat the younger Prince, preventing him from helping his father battle Aang.

As the comet streaks through the sky, Ozai's power doubles, allowing him to break Aang's protective sphere. Aang emerges ready to face his destiny. For the majority of the battle, Aang uses Air, Water and Earthbending against the Fire Lord, but Ozai holds the upper hand. However, by watching the Fire Lord fight, Aang learns Firebending. Equally strengthened by the comet, Aang assimilates Ozai's moves into his own and uses them to defeat the master. However, staying true to his ideals, Aang does not kill Ozai. Instead, using a technique available only to the Avatar, he takes away Ozai's Firebending powers and leaves him a weak man.

As the Earth forces capture the capital city, Aang reunites with Katara, Sokka and Momo. Aang proves to his friends that he's ready for the Avatar's responsibilities.

I find it amazing how many elements actually made it into the finale. Aang still has his earth shield which Ozai breaks. Sokka still has an airship battle. Katara and Zuko both take down Azul(a). And Aang strips Ozai of his bending wihtout killing him. The only thing really missing is Leo.

Logged

Despite its flaws, I liked The Last Airbender and fully support M.Night Shyamalan. "The White Lotus has always been about philosophy, and beauty and truth.""I laugh at gravity all the time!"

So the only people who had love interests in this version were Katara, Aang, and Toph? And only Toph because they needed him for a love triangle? The poor shippers in the fandom would have hardly anything to talk about.

Very interesting stuff, are we sure it's legit? It certainly looks so, I just haven't looked at the other thread yet, so no idea where this came from.

One thing I find interesting is that Aang would have gone searching for more airbenders, with ambiguous hints that he might be successful (that being that the idea is mentioned at all). They've been adamant in interviews about the airbenders being gone for sure. So either:

A. They changed their minds at some point. Definitely seems like a potential topic for one of their famous ping pong matches. Or,

B. All those interviews were just trying to throw us off, and they might revisit this idea at some point.

Personally, I kind of hope for A. After the Sun Warriors and the Foggy Swamp Tribe, another lost civilization surviving would be a bit too much to bear. Though I do hope the issue is addressed someday.

I find it awesome that the creators watched Neon Genesis Evangelion for reference. I totally love that show. Now that I read that, I realize how similar Shinji and Aang are. I also see why Aang's so hot. X3

So Toph and Azula were originally boys? No wonder they're my fave characters in the canon.

Aang"Aang is the hero and spirit of the show. This adventurous 12-year-old is the last Airbender and only known survivor of the Air Nomads, the arrow on his head a constant reminder of his lineage. His destiny is to learn the art of the Avatar and defeat the Fire Lord of the Fire Nation. But rather than save the world, Aang searches for adventure. He wants a life full of fun experiences, not heavy responsibilities.

Aang believes that people are either in harmony with the Spirit of the Planet or corrupt and mislead. Because Aang is the Avatar, he has a connection with nature as well as animals. If he's lost, Aang is able to "listen" to the spirits of the trees, rivers, and mountains to "tell" him which way to go. He is a trickster hero uninhibited by social constraints, and constantly breaking taboos.

Opposed to the status quo, Aang loves stirring up trouble in an effort to bring about change in the world and in others."

I like how his tendency to run away was fixed not be "endearingly" rebellious. As far as I can remember, the only remnant of that "Listen" power was when he tried it in the Swamp. And when the Guru did it with Appa.

Meanwhile, Sokka is fed up with Aang's irresponsibility and thinks that Aang doesn't have what it takes to become the Avatar. Sokka believes it's up to warriors like him to put an end to this war. When he finds evidence of the men of his tribe he sets off to find them, ultimately joining a small unit of Earth Nation warriors. After tasting his first real battle, Sokka's romantic ideal of the warrior life is shattered.

This sounds amazing, but I think it was scrapped because "real battle" harsh enough to "shatter" one's romantic ideals of the warrior life is probably not the kind of GI-Joe-grab-the-spear-and-use-the-blunt-end combat allowed on a Y7 cartoon.

And the alternative of just having Sokka get scared of the charging firebenders or regret living in dirty trenches would likely compromise the effect.

I like how his tendency to run away was fixed not be "endearingly" rebellious. As far as I can remember, the only remnant of that "Listen" power was when he tried it in the Swamp. And when the Guru did it with Appa.

I think that is also where his spiritbending comes from, at least the tie in novel made it sound like that.

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This sounds amazing, but I think it was scrapped because "real battle" harsh enough to "shatter" one's romantic ideals of the warrior life is probably not the kind of GI-Joe-grab-the-spear-and-use-the-blunt-end combat allowed on a Y7 cartoon.

Well, there certainly is that factor. Maybe it could be done with gratuitous use of the gory discretion shot, but it would be difficult none the less. And possibly scare the little kiddies.

Found this from Loopy's drabble, Not to rain on anyone's parade, but this guide is fake. It an impressive fake, reweaving the Avatar-verse in a AU, however it is ultimately a fake. Though this guide claims to be from 2005, it was clearly written after the finale.

The first problem. The timeline

The first episode (boy in iceberg) debuted on February 21, 2005. This a biger problem. Given just how long the episodes take to make, any style guide written in 2005 would have been written while season one was already well under production. Knowing this we can see a host of problems.

1- The season being referred to as "winter".2-

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Of course, Aang isn't in any rush to take on his Avatar responsibilities, so the kids stop at many fun and exciting villages and cities on the way. The first stop is at Aang's childhood home, the Airbender Temple. There, Aang makes first contact with Avatar Roku - Aang's previous incarnation and a mentor who will help him on his Avatar journey. He also befreinds a winged lemur - once a traditional Airbender pet. To Aang, Momo is a sign of hope that, somewhere in the world, his people are still alive.

-Episode 3 debuted on Feb 25th. Given the time to record, draw and produce an episode, I highly doubt any style guide written at any point in 2005 would have had this info wrong.

All the other problems where the two seasons don't match up also apply, but maybe if this was written in very early 2005 and those episodes were written late, it might theoretically be possible, but still unlikely. The top two are the ones that are more or less impossible to reconcile with a 2005 guide.

However even if we accept that the guide is still a fake, as at least two part are things that would naver have happened at any point during the development of Avatar.

1)Referring to bending as "magic"

This may be semantics, but it's still a big clue. When historians look to figure out if something was really written but someone they look for semantics, and Mika and Bryan have never reverend to bending as "magic" in any interview I can find. The only time it's referred to in show is by Sokka, and it's specifically to show off his ignorance. Nor could they have once though of it a magic and changed it to bending, and bending isn't derivative of any system of magic. Rather it is derivative of the "Super martial arts" seen in Wuxai films and anime such as DBZ. Ergo, they never would have thought of it as magic.

2)The ending

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Zuko claims the Fire Lord's throne and vows to work with the Avatar to restore the Fire Nation to its proper place in the world. Toph returns to the Earth Kingdom to work with the Emperor in rebuilding his nation. Katara and Sokka rejoin their father and sail home to save their home and rebuild the Southern Water Tribe. Aang and Momo reunite with Appa and fly off in search of the Air Nomads, whom Aang believes lives in an unexplored part of the world. As the Avatar, Aang will travel the world, helping restore balance to the Nations. In the process, he will achieve what he always wanted - a life full of adventure."

Or rather the lack of Kataang. Now that's not any sort of statement on ships, and the relative value. Personally I don't care much about shipping. However, the fact that Katara and Aang arn't together, shows a clear fake. Mike and Bryan have stated multiple times that Katara and Aang's romance was part of the DNA of the show, hence any real guide would have had them together. Even if we grant that there may have been a very early point at which it was not, it cleary was by the time they amde the unairied Pilot episode. Since Katara's name wasn't changed to Katara (originally Kya) until AFTER that episode, we must conclude that this guide would have hypothetically been written at a point when Kataang was in the "DNA" of the show.

In conclusion the author got overly ambitious in their changes. Not taking proper note of dates, and they clearly didn't have the supplementary materials (dvd's w commentary, unairied pilot) and make mistakes because of that. So impressive, but fake.